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Rastafari Reasoning and the Rasta Woman: Gender Constructions in the Reshaping of Rastafari Livity AUTHOR: JEANNE CHRISTENSEN PUBLISHER: LANHAM, MD: LEXINGTON ISBN: 978-0-7391-7573-6, PRICE: HARDCOVER, $24.00
REVIEWER: D. ROYSTER
The book Rastafari Reasoning and the RastaWoman draws from ethnographic research on various "houses" of the Rastafarian movement without the intention to make generalizations, but to place an emphasis on women because "Rastawomen often had to struggle to become full partners in the movement" (p. 4). The text functions as a primer for both scholars and lay audiences to intellectually engage with the external struggles of the Rastafarian movement in response to Western hegemonic expansionism and modernization and their internal struggle in terms of gender equity.
Christensen begins the book with a descriptive narrative of the African Diaspora in the New World by way of English colonialism as a "double death" through slavery which first broke the enslaved social ties away from Africa and the cultural capital needed to affirm their identity and second the prolonged process of dehumanization as involuntary immigrants. Although Christianity was introduced to Africans in Diaspora in the West through the context of slavery with the intent to foster an ideal work ethic for slaves;...